Turkish journalists pay an Eid visit to Jerusalem lawmakers
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 2 Sept -- Palestinian-Jerusalemite lawmakers in
a sit-in tent for more than 450 days have received Turkish journalists
working as volunteers in the Jordan-based Al-Sabeel newspaper who paid
them an Eid visit on the second day of Eid ... MP Ahamd Atton, MP
Mohammed Tutah, and former
Jerusalem minister Khaled Abu Arafa had been in the sit-in tent for
nearly 500 days rejecting an Israeli decision to deport them out of
their hometown. Abu Arafa explained that the sit-in was the
only means for them to resist the Israeli decision, adding that their
firm stand has helped in derailing the Israeli policy of deporting
Palestinian Jerusalemites out of the city and make it empty of Arabs, in
addition to embarrassing the Israeli occupation authorities before the
international community.http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k

Construction in Judea and Samaria up a whopping 660%
Arutz Sheva [settler news site - apologies for using it] 1 Sept -- About
75,000 new homes are under construction in all of Israel right now, a
government agency said Wednesday. With the end of the building freeze,
construction has started up in Judea and Samaria (Yesha) communities. In
fact, said the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), building jumped 660%
in Judea and Samaria during the first half of 2011, as compared to the
previous year. While the statistic was certainly breathtaking, the
actual numbers on the ground were less impressive: Construction started
on 546 new homes in Yesha communities during the period. Still, it was a
sharp improvement over the number of housing starts in the first half
of 2010, when only 72 housing starts were announced.http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/147431#.TmBP2o5vwrU

PA asks IOA to confiscate Palestinian landsRAMALLAH
(PIC) 2 Sept -- The Palestinian Authority in Ramallah city has urged
the Israeli occupation authorities to confiscate Palestinian land in the
city after owners of the land refused to sell it to them to use is as
dumping site, the local Watan TV channel reported. According to the
channel, the incident wasn’t isolated asserting that
a couple of months ago, Hassan Abo Libda, the minister of economy in
Fayyadh government, urged the IOA to confiscate Palestinian lands in the
industrial zone in Jenin city after owners of the land refused to sell
it. Abo Libda is now on trial on corruption charges.http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/09/02/pa-asks-ioa-to-confiscate-palestinian-lands/

Settlers

Fatal hit-and-run driver detained near Hebron
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 2 Sept -- Hebron police tracked down a hit-and-run driver
who killed a 10 year-old boy on Thursday, a statement said. Muhammad
Ghannam was standing at the side of the road in Yatta, a village south
of Hebron, when a car ran him over and killed him on the spot, the
police public relations department said. The driver escaped from the
scene and switched cars to avoid detection, police said, but an
investigation led to his arrest. http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417203

Settlers plan attacks against Palestinians in September
IMEMC
2 Sept -- As Israel decided to further arm the settlers by providing
them with stun grenades and tear gas bombs, the settlers, supported by
extremist right wing factions in Israel, are preparing a plan to
“respond to any popular Palestinian move that will likely take place as
the Palestinian leadership asks the United Nations this month to
recognize a Palestinian
State with East Jerusalem as its capital. Extremist right-wing factions
in Israel are preparing a plan dubbed “children against children, women
and [against?] women”, as part of settlers’ activities and attacks
against the unnamed Palestinian population in the
West Bank and in occupied East Jerusalem. Jewish settlers, illegally
living in the occupied territories, are a largely armed population and
well trained for combat situations. The settlers currently own more than
half a million automatic rifles, and practically unlimited amounts of
ammunition. http://www.imemc.org/article/61930

Armed settlers attack West Bank villageNABLUS
(Ma‘an)
2 Sept -- Armed Israeli settlers attacked Jalud village south of
Nablus on Friday demanding that villagers leave their homes, a
Palestinian official said. Clashes broke out and Israeli police arrived
on the scene, where they fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse
villagers, Ghassan Doughlas, the Fatah official charged with monitoring
settlement activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma‘an. The settlers,
from a small outpost near Jalud called Ahiya, attacked homes and
properties, Doughlas said ... A spokeswoman from Israel's Judea and
Samaria Police said groups of Palestinians and Israeli settlers from
Ahiya gathered "to protest about each other."http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417253

Israel court rejects settlers' eviction appeal
JERUSALEM
(AFP) 2 Sept -- Israel's Supreme Court on Thursday turned down for the
second time a request for a retrial over the fate of a building owned by
settlers in the flashpoint East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. It
also reprimanded the Jewish settlers living there for failing to heed
earlier court rulings demanding that they evacuate the building, which
is located in the heart of a densely populated Palestinian
neighborhood.... In their petition, the settlers claimed the authorities
were discriminating against them, citing the fact that demolition orders
against hundreds of Palestinian homes in the same neighborhood were not
being reinforced.http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417200

Israeli forces / Closures

PCHR Weekly Report 18-24 August: 17 killed by Israeli forces, including 5 civiliansIMEMC
2 Sept -- ...During the reporting period, Israeli forces killed 17
Palestinians, including 5 civilians (two children, a physician, a worker
and a farmers), in the Gaza Strip. They also wounded 20 Palestinians,
including 6 children and two women in the Gaza Strip, and 3 others in
the West Bank. Additionally, an activist of the Palestinian resistance
died of a previous wound in the Gaza Strip.During the reporting
period, Israeli forces conducted at least 27 military incursions into
Palestinian communities in the West Bank, during which they abducted 77
Palestinian civilians. [Note that not all of the 27 invasions were
reported here or, apparently, anywhere else, at
least not in English - by now they are too numerous to keep track of.]
Most of the detainees were abducted in Hebron. Two Palestinian civilians
were wounded by Israeli forces in Hebron and Bethlehem.and much more...http://www.imemc.org/article/61932

Those ungrateful Palestinians / Adam KellerCrazyCountry
2 Sept - Yesterday was celebrated throughout the Muslim world –
including the Palestinian Occupied Territories – the Eid al-Fitr
holiday, which marks the end of the month of Ramadan. And with the end
of this month there also came to their end the special Ramadan easing of
restrictions which the state of Israel and its armed forces granted the
Palestinian population on the occasion of Ramadan ... As at the time
reported proudly on the Israel Defense Forces blog, it was decreed that
no less than 200 Palestinians be allowed to travel abroad via Ben Gurion
Airport; that during Ramadan the Beit Mishpat crossing to Ramallah be
open to Palestinian traffic, as would be Gate 107 near Qalqiliya; and
that during Ramadan, trucks carrying supplies will be able to travel
freely between the Judea and Samaria Region and the Jordan Valley. Also,
in a most generous good will gesture, it was decreed that for the
duration of the Ramadan period, no less than 2,000 Palestinians be able
to pray at Temple Mount during weekdays. http://adam-keller2.blogspot.com/2011/09/those-ungrateful-palestinians.html

WikiLeaks: IDF uses drones to assassinate Gaza militantsHaaretz
2 Sept -- The IDF uses weaponized unmanned aircraft to assassinate
militants, according to a U.S. diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks.
The IDF Advocate-General Maj. Gen. Avichai Mandelblit revealed this
information to the previous U.S. Ambassador to Israel James Cunningham
in a meeting that took place in February 2010 ... One of the incidences
of civilians deaths that they two discussed was the IDF attack on a
group of Hamas members who were standing next to a mosque in Gaza. 16
Palestinians were killed in that attack, most of whom
were inside the mosque at the time.
The summary of the meeting that was sent to Washington stated,
"Mandelblit said that the facts were known: A UAV shot at two Hamas
fighters in front of the mosque and 16 casualties resulted inside the
mosque due to an open door through which shrapnel entered during a time
of prayer."
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/wikileaks-idf-uses-drones-to-assassinate-gaza-militants-1.382269

Gaza

Egypt envoy: No plan to demolish Gaza tunnelsGAZA
CITY
(Ma‘an) 2 Sept -- Egypt has denied plans to demolish tunnels on the
border with Gaza. Yasser
Othman, ambassador to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, said Friday
that no decision had been taken about the tunnels. The plan is to
restore security in the Sinai and the border area -- not to tighten the
siege on Gaza, he says. He said the security campaign in the tunnel area
will only target areas which threaten Palestinian and Egyptian
security. He also said that restoring security in the northern Sinai
would help Egypt improve facilities at the Rafah crossing. http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417261

'O brother where art thou!'
HopeinGaza
1 Sept -- Back In 2003, my eldest brother Tawfiq travelled to Jordan to
study 'Biomedical Engineering' there. He came to visit us in Gaza two
times ever since. The first, I don’t remember when while the second was
in 2006 for my sister’s wedding. After that he never came to Gaza until a
week ago. The time between 2008-2011, each time we would call him we
would ask him the very same old question about visiting us again, and he
would reply with the very same old ready answer, "Hey, why don’t you
come to Gaza this summer?" "I would really love to, but you know
'borders.'" "Don’t tell me borders I hear it’s open, come to Gaza we
miss you" "I wish, but I have a job now and I can’t jeopardize being
stuck there. One day it’s open the next it’s closed until further
notice" by the time, questions became a little shorter.. "wanna come to
Gaza?" "borders." Until we barely even used words "GAZA??" "Borders!"http://hopeingaza.wordpress.com/2011/09/01/o-brother-where-art-thou/

VIDEO: BDS activists disrupt Israel Philharmonic Orchestra 5 times tonight at BBC Proms, London
1 Sept -- Protesters have disrupted the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra's BBC Proms concert at London's Royal Albert Hall.
Several
demonstrators in the hall shouted as Zubin Mehta stood to conduct
Bruch's violin concerto. The rest of the audience booed in response. BBC
Radio 3 said it had to interrupt its live broadcast twice "as a result
of sustained audience disturbance". The Palestine Solidarity Campaign
had earlier called on people to boycott the concert and urged the BBC to
cancel it. In
a statement published on its website ahead of the Proms, the
pro-Palestinian group claimed the IPO showed "complicity in whitewashing
Israel's persistent violations of international law and human rights".http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrjvUkt7zKA

Thus spake the spokesman / Doron RosenblumOr,
Diary
of the Spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office. Haaretz 2 Sept
-- ...A little disappointed with the new job. Appears I am not the only
spokesman, or even one of three - but one of more than 100, seated in a
50-20-30 attack formation that's divided more or less as follows: 50
online commenters (27 anti-opposition and 23 anti-media ), 20 explainers
(nine internal coalition spokesmen and 11 external ones, who
also serve as Nazi hunters and identifiers of anti-Semites worldwide ),
30 deputy director generals of PR and Spokesman Affairs, including 17
personal spokesmen of the prime minister and five for his wife. Then
there are two spokesmen whose job is to coordinate denials among the
aforementioned groups and MK Akunis, the coalition's unofficial
spokesman and the prime minister's in-house denier.http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/magazine/thus-spake-the-spokesman-1.382195

Tel Aviv joins other Israeli districts in opening segregated schoolsIMEMC
1 Sept -- The Tel Aviv municipality in western Israel has become the
latest of a dozen school districts in Israel to force children to attend
schools segregated by race and nationality ... A number of school
districts in the last several years have forced students into separate
schools based on the students' nationality, religion or ethnicity. Some
schools have specifically excluded Africans,
even though many of the Africans in Israel are Jewish. The issue of
segregated schools is one that has been raised by activists worldwide
who have challenged what they call Israel's 'apartheid' practices -- a
reference to the race-based system in South Africa prior to 1994.http://www.imemc.org/article/61928

Israel forms team to fight lawsuits over flotilla attack
OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM (PIC) 2 Sept – Israel has decided to form a special legal team
to fight possible lawsuits against its military staff in the
international criminal courts. The Israeli Attorney General and Ministry
of Justice have been bracing for likely lawsuits against Israel’s
military personnel who participated in the lethal attack of the
Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara ship that killed nine activists on board,
Israeli media outlets said. According to reports, the team consisting of
legal experts and consultants will weigh all judicial and legal
dimensions enveloping the possibility. The Israeli military leadership
has already officially approved the movehttp://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/09/02/israel-forms-team-to-fight-lawsuits-over-flotilla-attack/

Turkey to host NATO early warning radarReuters
2
Sept -- Turkey is set to host a NATO early-warning radar system as part
of improved defenses for the Western military alliance, the foreign
ministry said on Friday.
Turkey, with NATO's second biggest military, has a geo-strategic
importance to the alliance dating back to its role as a front-line state
in the Cold War era. But its value to NATO has risen as Middle East
states with anti-Western policies, like Iran, have developed their
missile capabilities.http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4117134,00.html

American taxpayers subsidize Israel's ascendancy over the US / Alison Weir
CNI 1 Sept --Israel's prosperity grows at the expense of Americans -- Israel’s Jerusalem Post newspaper recently published an article
calling Israel "The New Golden Country" for young people from around the
world. It reports that Israel boasts an ever-increasing GDP, a strong
currency, and a "lower unemployment rate than the US." The article fails
to mention the well over $3 billion a year
that American taxpayers have given Israel for years, nor the fact that
some of this money has been used to develop industries that compete with
US companies, costing thousands of American jobs and adding to the
American unemployment rate. The story also omits the fact that Israel
has periodically stolen US technology, hurting the US economy still more, and fails to note that support for Israel has cost Americans in the range of $3-$6 trillion and that these costs continue to escalate. The articlereports
that many young Jewish American singles "are realizing that their
future is in Israel. Since 2002, over 7,000 students and young
professionals have made Aliyah ["ascended" to Israeli citizenship] from North America and the UK… bringing with them their skills…"http://www.councilforthenationalinterest.org/component/k2/item/695

VIDEO: Best J14 animation ever - 'The Israel Machine' / Noam Sheizaf972mag
2
Sept --There have been many inspiring or funny J14 videos posted in
recent weeks, but this one is by far the best, getting all the important
issues–from militarism through the deportation of migrant workers and
refugees to the Separation Wall–wrapped to one and a half minutes.Watch
it with sound. The characters at the top of the machine, by order of
appearance, are PM Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud), Foreign Minster Avigdor
Lieberman (Israel Beitenu), Interior Minister Eli Yishay (Shas), Defense
Minister Ehud Barak (ex-Labor) and Opposition leader Tzipi Livni
(Kadima). The handles they are dancing on state their role. The caption
on the Youtube page with the video says "instead of changing seats,
let’s change the system."http://972mag.com/best-j14-animation-ever-the-israeli-machine/

Dogs of war / Uri AvneryGush
Shalom
3 Sept -- Such terrifying dogs have not been seen since the Hound of
the Baskervilles. They have been bred by an ardent admirer of the late
'Rabbi' Meir Kahane, who was branded by the Israeli Supreme Court as a
fascist. Their task is to protect the settlements and attack
Palestinians. They are settler-dogs, or, rather, dog-settlers. All our
TV stations have reported on them at length and lauded their
effectiveness and ardor. All in preparation for "September". September
is not just the name of a month, the seventh in the old Roman calendar.
It is the symbol of a terrible danger, an unspeakable existential
menace. In the next few weeks, the Palestinians will ask the UN to
recognize the State of Palestine.http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1314963921/

WikiLeaks documents expose Israeli racism, hypocrisy, and double standards
MEMO 2 Sept -- ...While the overt views of Israeli officials and their
American allies are hardly well-kept secrets, the cables shed additional
light on their intent and attitudes. According to the record of a
meeting with the US ambassador on 31 January 2006, for example, Israeli
foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman advocated the adoption of the Cyprus
model to ensure Israel's security and Jewish identity. Thus, just as
Greeks and Turks on
the island were separated, so too Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs must be
kept apart.
Despite the obvious draconian nature of Lieberman's proposal, it did not
evoke a word of protest or any sense of apprehension from the
ambassador. There was no reference to what the views of the people
affected might be or, indeed, that they would even be consulted.http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/resources/commentary-and-analysis/2780

A tale of two Gaza flotilla reports / Yousef MunayyerPermission
to
Narrate 2 Sept -- ...Due to the impact of the Goldstone Report on
Israel's Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, it is only natural that this
report will be seen through the prism of the Goldstone experience and in
comparison to it. But in reality, this Palmer Report (named for the
leader of the inquiry Sir Geoffery Palmer) and the Goldstone Report are
two very different things ... It is important to note the differences
between the two reports, not
only because of their starkly contrasting conclusions about the events
on the flotilla and the Israeli blockade, but also because of their
methodologies and intentions. Below, I enumerate some important
differences between the newly released Palmer Report and what I will
refer to as the Hudson-Phillips report for consistency and expediency. http://blog.thejerusalemfund.org/2011/09/tale-of-two-gaza-flotilla-reports.html